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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25986511">Harry Potter: Priest of the Moriya</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyan_Spiderdragon/pseuds/Cyan_Spiderdragon'>Cyan_Spiderdragon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Touhou Project</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Shrine Priest Harry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:07:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,614</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25986511</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyan_Spiderdragon/pseuds/Cyan_Spiderdragon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry wishes himself away to the doorstep of the Moriya Shrine. In a world of dwindling faith, dying Goddess Sanae is revitalised by his magic, and raises him both as her son, and as the sole priest of the Moriya.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In a perfectly ordinary house, on a perfectly ordinary street, during a perfectly ordinary night in the country of England, a child lay awake, his heart twisted with pain. This boy had borne the weight of a harsh tongue and harsh hands for many years now, and tonight was merely one of many.</p><p>He had hardly eaten all day, and his thin frame shook with suppressed tears as he curled in his sheets. The boy was locked away in a cupboard, under a staircase, where none could see hum or love him. He kept silent not for pride or respect, but for fear of his uncle’s wrath. He very much didn’t want to annoy his uncle. Not after what had happened the last time.</p><p>As he drifted in painful lethargy, he wished, earnestly and positively, to be <em>somewhere else</em>.</p><p>And then… he was.</p><hr/><p>There was a shrine that stood atop a great mountain. It was old, very old indeed, but had stood the test of centuries, remaining as a monument to years past. A high, angled roof overshadowed an enormous rope or cable, twisted into a threefold pattern. Away behind the shrine, in a dell of the mountain’s plateau, lay a wide lake, clear as glass. Beside the lake, many wooden pillars, wound about with more twisted ropes, stood stout and tall.</p><p>There was power in this place, and beauty. A grandeur that remained in spite of the cracked, overgrown courtyard, the shattered windows, and the surprisingly limited fraying of the rope. A grandeur that belonged to the shrine’s only remaining inhabitant. It was the last wisp of the once-mighty goddess to whom this holy place belonged.</p><p>The spirit was alone, and fading. She was a sigh on the wind, a presence in the shade, less even then a ghost haunting its home in life.</p><p>For centuries, she had overseen the people under her aegis. A Goddess of the Land who soared with the birds. Her presence blessed the earth and brought the rain. Once, her worshippers claimed, she had been human, one of them. But now, she was their guardian, as her gods had been to her, so long ago.</p><p>The mountain, too, was a beautiful place. A very green mountain it was, with rivers and rocky ridges giving way to thick forest, and many magical beasts still lived upon it. Yet the village at its base was ruined, and had been eroded by the years. No one lived there still, and no one offered prayer to the spirit. She was disappearing, strangled by the modern age’s lack of faith. Perhaps she could once have convinced the inhuman residents of the mountain to follow her, but now she was so weak that she could hardly speak.</p><p>She had long since given up hope. She simply sank into her twilight, once-keen senses dulling.</p><p>And then it happened.</p><p>A light, a spark, appeared. it was a human soul, standing on her threshold where none had been for countless years. And it was unlike any soul she had encountered before. It shone with spiritual light, but it was not contained. Its energy seeped from its form, as if raised in supplication, and she fed on it with a greed that quite unlike her. As she rose to full consciousness, she realised what she was doing and halted. She had enough energy now to manifest, so she did; taking a childish form as her ancestor once had. And it was well she did, for the boy on her doorstep would have fled from an adult. As it was, he stumbled in shock and fell to the ground.</p><p>He stammered in a language she had never heard – but she was a God, and Gods must have the Gift of Tongues, so she yet understood.</p><p>“It’s alright, little one. I’m not going to hurt you.”</p><p>She reached out. After a moment’s hesitation, he allowed her to help him up.</p><p>“My name is Sanae. What’s yours?”</p><p>“B- I mean, Harry,” he managed. “Harry Potter.”</p><p>“Well then, Harry. What brings you to my humble abode?”</p><p>His eyes darted from side to side.</p><p>“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t – I don’t-”</p><p>“Please, come in!”</p><p>And he did.</p><hr/><p>Harry was from a nation called ‘England’. Sanae wasn’t sure she could remember the name even of her own country, after so long, but she was certain it wasn’t <em>that</em>.</p><p>“Never heard of it.”</p><p>“B-but – everyone knows it!”</p><p>“Not me.”</p><p>He was an orphan.</p><p>“Poor thing…”</p><p>“I live with my uncle and aunt.”</p><p>“Ah, that’s good. Are they nice?”</p><p>“…”</p><p>He was treated <em>poorly</em>.</p><p>It was almost a good thing she was so weak – Sanae didn’t think Harry could handle the wrath of a Wind Goddess, whether or not it was directed at him. In any case, her expression terrified the poor boy so much he hid under the kotatsu, and she spent several minutes coaxing him back out.</p><p>She refused to let a child suffer in such a terrible place! Speaking of…</p><p>“Harry, how did you get here from… ‘England’?”</p><p>He blinked soulfully up at her.</p><p>“I wished really hard to be somewhere else – and then I was!”</p><p>She was taken aback. This child was human – she was certain of that – but either he had been granted a boon or miracle, or he was a natural magician, despite being clearly human. She hadn’t heard of such a thing, but perhaps he had divine ancestry, as she did? She resolved to put it aside for the time being.</p><p>“Do you think you could do that again?”</p><p>He shrunk in upon himself.</p><p>“I-I don’t really want to go back… I mean, it’s just ‘cos, well, you’re really nice! And the, the Dursleys – they aren’t.”</p><p>“It’s okay Harry. I was just wondering if you could take yourself to other places than just here and their house.”</p><p>He looked suspiciously at her, then scrunched up his face in concentration. He did a magnificent pug impression, but no teleportation followed.</p><p>“I just can’t do it…”</p><p>“Hmmm. Well then, Harry,” she said cheerfully, “if you don’t know how you got here, and can’t take yourself back, I guess you’ll have to stay here for now.”</p><p>She was caught unprepared as he lunged forward and hugged her avatar. He sobbed thankyous into her shirt, while she cradled him.</p><p>
  <em>Raising a kid, huh? Well, if they could do it, so can I!</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They made an odd couple, the Goddess and the child. Though her form was no more impressive than his, Sanae had an air of wisdom and a quiet confidence that offset Harry’s shyness and naivete. Those first days, when they were still getting to know each other, were awkward, but Sanae was just as starved of contact as Harry, and they became fast friends in time.</p><p>Of course, her own nature came out eventually. Harry was quite puzzled at first, but she soon had the most devoted worshipper she’d ever heard of. One person’s belief, no matter how strong, shouldn’t have sustained her, but his incredible excess of spiritual power sated her easily. In time, she grew strong enough to start exerting some influence, and restored some old garments lying around the shrine, which Harry happily took in place of his ragged hand-me-downs. Harry ate fruit, mostly, making use of the land’s residual blessings of fertility.</p><p>Harry, to her astonishment, appeared to have an ability much like she had when she was human. He had little control, but all sorts of minor miracles seemed to follow in his wake – nothing spectacular, but with the shrine in its current condition, his magical repair work was a great help. Torn and frayed cloth wove back together, holes in the floorboards patched themselves when he tripped on them, and the windows repaired themselves swiftly after he cut himself on a shard of glass. He even managed to encourage the plants of the forest to bear fruit to feed them, which was good, as Sanae didn’t think she could’ve managed to sustain even a child for long.</p><p>He never did manage to recreate his teleportation feat, though, so Sanae concluded he must have been descended from a Native God in England, and lost power after leaving his homeland. Regardless, they soon had a comfortable living in the old shrine on the mountain. They had few resources, but a pair of miracle workers hardly needed them, did they?</p><p>When she asked if he wanted to be her <em>Shinshoku, </em>her head-priest, he leapt at the chance. by then, she had enough power to grant him a boon – the Gift of Tongues, as he was fascinated by her ability to speak to him without knowing English. He made great use of it – he spoke with the snakes in the grass, and the frogs in the lake, and the birds in their roosts, and in this way learned much of the world and nature. They brought some news, also, of things that transpired in the world at large – of cities and wars and constructs of civilisation.</p><p>Harry asked Sanae why people never came to the valley, or climbed the mountain.</p><p>“Because they do not belong, they cannot enter. This is the blessing of this hidden land, and its curse, for I would not have come so close to death had new worshippers arrived.”</p><p>“But Sanae,” Harry responded, puzzled, “I came from outside myself.”</p><p>He knew of what she spoke but had never really thought about it before. Just how had he passed into the land, then?</p><p>“Ah, but you used a miracle, did you not?” Sanae smiled down at him (for her stature had grown with her power). “Who knows how much power that took – and my ancestor laid that charm a terribly long time ago. Even then, other gods could enter and challenge her might.”</p><p>Harry perked up, because he loved this story and Sanae told it well. She saw his eagerness and chuckled.</p><p>“Did you want something, Harry?”</p><p>“Tell it again, please, Sanae!” he begged piteously.</p><p>“Alright then.”</p><p>Sanae cleared her throat, though as a Goddess, she hardly needed to. It was an affectation, like those Magicians were known to engage in.</p><p>“Once, there was a hidden realm of great beauty and prosperity. This was the land of Moriya, and its people knew no famine and no hardship, for they lived under the protection of the Goddess Moreyashin, who also bore the name Suwa-ko – Suwa, of course, was the name of the mountain lake that was the seat of her power. Now Suwako was a Native God, born of the land rather than the light of creation. But this didn’t hold her back in the slightest. Indeed, she won the hearts of her people with her first feat of power as a God – taming the Mishaguji.”</p><p>Sanae’s eyes glowed red as she spoke that name, and Harry shivered in a delighted fear.</p><p>“The Mishaguji were primordial creatures, living curses in the form of great white snakes that scourged the land. But even they were part of the order of nature, and though their breath spread poison and illness, they also brought hope, for life sprung up in their wake. Suwako took the Mishaguji to task and brought them under her power. She used them to ripen the soil for harvest, and for tunnelling through the earth. The people of Suwa – as they came to be called – mined all sorts of metals and precious things from these tunnels, and it is said that in their deepest reaches the mines approached the Underworld.”</p><p>“So the people got really good at making tools!” Harry interjected, grinning.</p><p>Sanae waved her finger admonishingly. “Are you telling this story, Harry?”</p><p>He shook his head rapidly and subsided again.</p><p>“But yes, you’re correct. There was no shortage of metals, and with the aid of an Earth Goddess, the people became masters of smithing and mining. Their technology and agriculture was far ahead of its time, and they grew great because of it. They feared no monsters, for they were defended by the greatest monsters of all, and because Suwako hid away their land where none could find it – where none <em>should have</em> found it.”</p><p>“Now, this is when the story takes a darker turn. Moriya had not known any intrusion for centuries, but foreign gods had decided to form a coalition and unite the disparate kingdoms of the time into the nation of Yamato. Of course, Suwako and her followers would have none of that, and so it was that the goddess Yasaka invaded the hidden realm of Moriya.”</p><p>“Suwako came to meet her, bearing mighty arms forged by her people – yes, Harry, I mean the rings in the shed, don’t interrupt – and did battle with the intruder. Now, much of Suwako’s power resided in her control of the Mishaguji, which she would not use in battle for fear of the collateral damage they would cause. Yasaka produced a tangling vine that caused Suwako’s tools to rust to nothing, and so she was unable to continue the fight.”</p><p>Sanae paused briefly. Harry’s eyes were shining with excitement – the next part of the story was his favourite.</p><p>“Yasaka then claimed dominion of Moriya, but the people denied her and prayed instead to Suwako. In fury, Yasaka cast out the Native God of Suwa, and in doing so made a terrible mistake.”</p><p>“The Curse Gods, faithful only to their master, refused to do her bidding, and instead ran amok through Moriya. Yasaka was powerful, and did not fear them, but their nature as living curses made them undying and uncontrollable. Soon, she saw that they would eventually break free from the secret land and wreak havoc on Yamato itself.”</p><p>“In desperation, she summoned Suwako back before her, and promised equal control of Moriya, if she would but tame the Curse Gods once more. So she went forth, mighty and terrible, wearing once again the visage of Moreyashin, God of Suwa, ruler of the hidden realm. In this, her original persona, she strode out and struck down the Mishaguji, and spoke to them words of power and terror, and instilled in them again the fear they had once held for her.”</p><p>“And so, the two Goddesses then ruled over the land as equal partners. At least, they should have, but Yasaka, for all her power, was foolish, and did not foresee that the people’s hearts were given to Suwako wholly. Therefore, she allowed Suwako to administrate the region as she had before. She eventually took the name Kanako (from <em>kannabi</em>) after the fashion, of course, of Suwako.”</p><p>“And so the land of Moriya continued, hidden, defended, and forgotten to the Outside World.”</p><p>Harry applauded politely, as was his wont, and Sanae laughed happily.</p><p>“But Sanae,” asked Harry, “where are they now? Suwako and Kanako, I mean.”</p><p>Sanae still smiled, but it was sadder now. She raised a hand to her heart.</p><p>“They left me behind long ago, Harry, but they live in me still.”</p><p>Harry slept soundly that night, reassured of Moriya’s security.</p><p>Sanae, however kept a vigil until morning. She sat on one of the shrine’s <em>onbashira</em>, the mighty pillars that represented the strength of Yasaka. She watched the light of the stars reflecting in the lake of Suwa.</p><p>And, gently, she began to weep.</p><hr/><p>Now that Harry had befriended the creatures that lived on the mountainside, Sanae allowed him to go about freely on the mountain and explore. She kept a watchful eye from the mountaintop, ready to come to his side with a gust of wind or other show of power, but he was a cautious child, never reckless, never foolish.</p><p>That is not to say he was mature, of course. His innocence was such that, had he not been warned by his companions, he may well have entered the caves and ravines that all the beasts warned him were cursed. Had he entered there, even Sanae’s aid may not have saved him. Though he was curious, he kept well away from these places.</p><p>One day, he found a dirt track, choked with plant life and barely more than a game trail. He followed it downward and eventually came upon the village at the mountain’s foot. He had not been there before, for the way was steep and the forest thick, and he could not yet fly.</p><p>The village was a sad place. Undefended by any deity, it had fallen far further into disrepair than the shrine had, and the empty windows and shattered roofs seemed quite ghoulish to Harry. The streets and alleys he wandered were cracked and destroyed. There was history in this place, but even in his extreme youth, he could feel that a tragedy had taken place here.</p><p>Sanae had told him the people of Moriya had slowly died out over several centuries. In his innocence, he couldn’t conceive that she would ever be dishonest with him, but though at the time he didn’t know their significance, later he would remember the village and the scars it bore.</p><p>Scars indeed they were, as long trenches and furrows had torn through the place, and though any bodies were surely dust by now, shattered blades and broken spears littered the ground.</p><p>This was a place of tragedy, but not the long slow tragedy of a quiet death.</p><p>This was a place of war, the ancient battlefield of the Suwa people.</p><p>Frightened, though he knew not why, Harry returned to Sanae and she soothed him, though she was troubled at what he had seen. When he woke the next morning, she forbade him from visiting the village.</p><p>He didn’t wish to, regardless, so he easily agreed.</p><p>Eventually, they forgot the entire incident.</p><hr/><p>Harry’s everyday life continued in much the same way. Sanae taught him the duties of a <em>shinshoku</em> (and of a <em>miko</em>, as he was the only worshipper present). He roamed all over the mountain and came to know parts of it very well.</p><p>As time passed, Harry met some of what Sanae called youkai – magical creatures. Mostly these were just more intelligent and larger counterparts to the animals he knew already. They treated him kindly, though how much hand Sanae had in that, none can say.</p><p>Eventually, he even learned to fly, though he couldn’t do it for very long periods of time. It did greatly aid him in his daytrips about the mountain, and it was on one of these trips that he felt an incredible presence make itself known.</p><p>Harry had come to know the auras of Sanae and the youkai he had befriended, but this entity’s power far outstripped them. It flickered down from the sky like a bolt of lightning and came to rest just a few minutes’ flight from him.</p><p>Harry approached cautiously and was rewarded for his efforts with an incredible sight. A vast, black, serpentine creature, leathery wings furled, had come to rest before a large, run-down cottage that he had visited on a few occasions.</p><p>Curiosity more than sated, he turned to leave, but the dragon called to him.</p><p>“I see you, boy.”</p><p>Its voice rumbled through the air and ground, and at that moment, Harry felt Sanae’s familiar presence billow about him like a cloak of wind. <em>Be calm,</em> she whispered to him, and he stilled his heart and steeled his will.</p><p>Bolstered by her presence, Harry stepped out into the clearing, and bowed respectfully.</p><p>“Might I ask, Sir Dragon, what your purpose is here today?”</p><p>The ground trembled again, and it took him a moment to realise the dragon was emitting guttural laughter.</p><p>“So formal!” It roared, amused. “looks like <em>that girl</em> was the only rude one from this land. And who are you, come before me with a god at your side?”</p><p>“H-harry, sir,” stammered the boy, “and I am training as the priest of this mountain’s goddess.”</p><p>The dragon raised a ridged brow.</p><p>“Are you, now… Boy!”</p><p>“Y-yes?”</p><p>The dragon slithered about until its enormous head rose just above Harry’s.</p><p>“There was a witch, once, who lived in this house. I would know her whereabouts, thank you kindly.”</p><p>Harry knew of the witch in question. Sanae had told him about her after he first stumbled across the building, and the stories were quite hilarious. Apparently, the seldom-present proprietor of the <em>Kirisame Magic Shop</em> had left Moriya over two hundred years ago. He had found a few trinkets left behind, but the infamous packrat had kept hold of most of her possessions.</p><p>“If it’s Miss Kirisame you mean, she left here many years ago.”</p><p>The dragon sighed.</p><p>“That is what I feared. Did she at least become a youkai, in the end?”</p><p>Sanae conveyed an impression of <em>uncertainty</em>, and Harry interpreted for her.</p><p>“Not before she left, at least.”</p><p>“Hmph. Very well.”</p><p>The dragon spread its wings.</p><p>“I will not be left indebted to a mortal! You shall be rewarded, Kirisame, if I must shatter the gates of Hell to find you!”</p><p>It burst into the sky with a sudden, convulsive motion, and was off.</p><p>One last call reached the duo, rather speechless: “Do not forget the name of Yokoshima-ryu!”</p><p>It took Harry a while to gather his thoughts, but when he did…</p><p>“Evil Dragon? It was a bit of a drama queen, huh?”</p><p>And Sanae simply felt <em>amusement</em>.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>History of Kochiya (1):</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>She was born under a lucky star, and the wind howled loudly that night. The current Shrine Maiden was nearing the end of her span, and so the girl was raised to fulfill that role. She had divine blood in her, binding her to Moreyashin, but she had a greater power and portion then any of her human ancestors.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>They called her a living god, a god among mortals.</em>
</p>
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